Wed, Dec 14, 2022 page7

• Taiwan’s Hsu wins seventh local go title

  • Staff writer, with CNA
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  Taiwanese professional go player Hsu Hao-hung on Monday won his seventh title of the year after beating Lin Chun-yen in a nearly six-hour match at the Go Grandmaster Tournament in Taipei.

  “I think I’m back in the groove now,” said Hsu, who had a tumultuous first six months of the year.

  The 21-year-old Taiwan meijin on Thursday became the nation’s ninth professional go player with a ninth-dan ranking after topping the Speed Go Tournament for his sixth title of the year.

  

  Taiwanese professional go player Hsu Hao-hung, right, plays Siliconware Precision Industries Co chairman and Haifong Weiqi Academy founder Bough Lin in a demonstration match at a news conference in Taipei on July 14, 2020.

  Photo: CNA

  On Monday, Hsu played with black stones at the HaiFong Go Association.

  The win pushed his title-holding record for a single year to an unprecedented seven, and bagged him NT$1.2 million (US$39,057) in prize money.

  So far this year, Hsu has earned at least NT$6.9 million from winning Taiwan’s seven major titles.

  In a post-game interview, Hsu played down the achievement.

  “I think I was fortunate in the first half of the year. I did win those games, but actually, I didn’t play really well. I did not play well in the international games this year, either, so maybe other Taiwanese go players have to keep working,” he said.

  Hsu yesterday was seeking to add another NT$400,000 to his winnings and an eighth title by winning the National Champion Tournament, which he has won twice before.

  Lin, who finished runner-up in the tournament, praised Hsu for his strong play in the series.

  “I did not adjust myself well in this series, but the main reason [for my losses] was because Hao-hung had great performances. Even though I did not play badly in the four lost games, he did not give me too many opportunities, either,” Lin said after the match.

  Lin won NT$400,000 after Hsu unseated him as Taiwan Grandmaster. He had held the title over the past year after he outsmarted Hsu 4-3 in the best-of-seven series final in November last year.

  Monday’s triumph also marked Hsu’s second victory over Lin in the series. Before sweeping Lin in April to secure back-to-back Taiwan meijin titles, Hsu had yielded to Lin in their previous three best-of-seven series.

  Li Wei, a sixth-dan professional go player and the commentator for Monday’s match, said it was impressive how Hsu dominated the board.

  “What’s truly amazing is that, be it Lin Chun-yen or Wang Yuan-jyun, none of Taiwan’s elite go players could really threaten Hao-hung’s position this year. We might say it’s because they were not in good condition, but it may also suggest that Hao-hung is on another level now,” Li said during the game.

  After winning his first major professional tournament in Taiwan, the CMC Grandmaster Tournament in 2017, Hsu clinched two titles in 2018, three in 2019, four in 2020 and five last year.

  As of last month, Hsu was leading local professional go players with the highest win rate (79 percent), nailing 72 matches while yielding only 19, HaiFong Go Association data showed.

  Hsu’s 72 wins were also the second-most in Taiwan, behind only the 78 wins of Lai Jyun-fu, who ranked second on wins (77 percent) with 23 losses.

  Lai holds the CMC title, one of the major domestic titles that Hsu failed to grab this year.
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